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Dell’s Linux Offer, still too early to tell

When Dell first announced that Linux was going to be offered as a choice on their home systems, many Linux fans rejoiced on the news. GNU/Linux was finally going to make headway in the desktop market, with Dell being the catalyst to displace the Microsoft Windows monopoly. And while everyone was quite happy about this event, I took an alternative view to the situation…

Some of you might have read my negative view-point on Dell’s Linux offer: that it will never work, or worse off, that it might be a set up move by Microsoft to further tarnish Linux. I made my statement, and have been patiently waiting to see the actual Dell offer before saying anything more.

It’s finally here. Later today, Dell will offer U.S customers three different systems with Ubuntu 7.04 installed: the XPS 410n and Dimension E520n desktops and the Inspiron E1505n notebook. These systems will be available at www.dell.com/open by 4pm CST today. Starting price for the E520n desktop and the E1505n notebook is $599; the XPS 410n starts at $849.

Hardware support will come from Dell. Beyond that, users can turn to the Linux section of the Dell Community Forum. Users also have fee-based options for operating system support through Canonical, including 30-day Get Started, One-year Basic and One-year Standard.

The support for the Linux system only comes from Dell’s Community Forums and can be purchased from Canonical at…

30 days Starter Support: $65

1 year of Basic Support: $125

1 year of Std Support: $275

This offer is targeted “for advanced users and tech enthusiasts” and “we expect these systems to be less than 1 percent of our OS mix for the entire year which is ~20,000 systems annually.”

All in all, I am still a bit disappointed. Yes, you do [at this time, with no offers] get a system for a few dollars less than one with Vista, but what’s going to happen when the average Joe gets in on this great deal and finds out he can’t install iTunes, MS Office, nor his games, and nothing works as it should? Answer: Curse Linux and send the system back! And when Dell figures out that this model is either not profitable, or too small volume, what’s going to happen then? Answer: Blame Linux!

2 thoughts on “Dell’s Linux Offer, still too early to tell”

thanks for posing a scenario. what would indeed be far more stimulating, is to see
a) what do you propose the community or world-at-large should do to turn this into a successful venture.
b) personally, what are you going to do, or what ideas can you share, to make this successful.

stating problems should not just be the sole reason-to-exist on planet earth. but then, maybe i’m wrong.